The most significant and well-preserved early photographs are credited to the French optician and daguerreotypist Noël Marie Paymal Lerebours. Around 1842, he produced a series of stunning images of the city, including a panoramic view of the Kremlin, the first known photograph of St. Basil’s Cathedral, and a shot of the Bolshoi Kamenny Bridge . These images are particularly notable because the daguerreotype process required an exposure time of over 20 minutes, making it impossible to capture moving objects.

This print above is was made from the original images by Lerebours.

Consequently, figures of people and boats were often painted onto the unique, one-of-a-kind photographic plates by hand to enliven the scenes . A few years later, in 1852, the renowned British photographer Roger Fenton also traveled to Moscow and created what are believed to be the first stereoscopic images of the Kremlin, offering a three-dimensional view of the historic fortress .Fenton documented a suspension bridge being built for Czar Nicholas I. He had taken up photography only a few months earlier. He went well beyond his commission, and returned to London with what are now believed to be some of the earliest photos of the Kremlin.

The domes of churches inside the Kremlin, from the same series. Closed in 1917, turned into museums, and still standing today. Photographs of Moscow before the revolution are rare and give us a great peek into Russian history.